Associated Press - July 10, 2009 7:14 PM ET

LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) - State police say two Connecticut residents were burned when their small plane crashed Friday morning at the airport in the northern New Mexico community of Las Vegas.

State police spokesman Peter Olson says the 41-year-old male pilot pulled his 36-year-old female passenger from the burning plane.

Olson says the woman has extensive and severe burns and the man also was burned. Both were flown to a trauma center in Albuquerque, N.M. Their names weren't released pending notification of relatives.

Witnesses told state police that the plane flew over the airport and turned back. The engine quit and the plane slammed into the ground short of the runway.

Federal investigators say the plane was purchased in Scottsdale, Ariz. on Thursday.

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